Scene Ideas
Ideas for scenes in the series. Over Plot Book One - 4E c.67 Mere cycles after the end of the Scourge of Shadows which marked the close of the 3rd Era, the infamous warlock Redvaks Bok is cornered and slain in the Arktoran Mountains. The people of Araia celebrate anew as the oath-breaker meets his end, but far in the north, the last remaining verethran dragons know that Oblivion has not relented in its schemes. Another dark servant, one far more ancient and terrible, has begun to stir from its slumber. Protagonist: '''Maeya '''Shadow: Zack Big Bad: '''Kharkaroth the Immolator '''Villains: '''Vaeliang '''Book Two - 4E c.592 Generations after the events of the first book, blight has begun to return to all lands as the dreadful apophis Vaeliang marshals Oblivion's servants as they regain their strength in the world's dark corners. However, this time the followers of the Sun have a chance to prevent disaster - the location of the Annihilator's unholy black text has been revealed, and a quest is undertaken to retrieve the tome's secrets. But all is not what it seems... Protagonist: '''Chittel '''Shadow: Merit Big Bad: '''Varza the Grey '''Villains: Book Three - 4E c.824 It has been over 200 cycles since the blasphemous text of Oblivion arrived in the Stone Archives at Maurduhr, and yet scores of scholars have failed to translate its black contents, driven instead to a terrible madness. As time grows short in the face of impending doom and the warlocks of Chaos finalise their battle plans, a traveller from lands unknown to civilisation might hold the power to enlighten the world... or cast it into eternal shadow... Protagonist: '''Ottakai '''Shadow: Vasilisa Big Bad: '''Drakon Maianos '''Villains: Book Four - 4E c.948 While the forces of Light have unlocked the darkest secrets of Oblivion and its servants, they have little time to prepare a defence against imminent Annihilation. As the sacred magi of Urchano and the north unite under the trolls of Tey'Kor-Akx, those magicians who have fallen to temptation answer the call of Mikhul Delvin, making dark pilgrimage to the Black Spire. A single scholar undertakes his own Lawful mission to the centre of the world. Protagonist: '''Ashkule '''Shadow: Malcar Big Bad: '''Ariadne '''Villains: '''Duke Loras '''Book Five - 4E c.1000 It is the 1000th cycle of the 4th Era and Darkness is on the move. The Continent of Araia stands on the brink of war as the kiasyd of Noz-Oraln launch a jyhad against the Jewel of the North. Meanwhile, beneath the earth things best left hidden prepare to rise to once more to the surface. In these dark days, Tolnor finds itself under threat from within, as the disappearance of children from several prominent houses tie in to a deeper conspiracy... Protagonist: '''Vaekosa '''Shadow: Thordus Big Bad: '''Nazlaieqk '''Villains: Pastrea Vokunda, Redvaks Bok Book Six - 4E c.1023 Although war has been temporarily averted on the northern continent, Oblivion commands its minions to further orchestrate its plans for world eradication. As the forces of Light unite around Tolnor, the deathless dragon Vaeliang summons the ogre peoples of Irum'Vemak to join her armies in solidarity with the cause of Annihilation. With their brutal history painted with the blood of those who defied Chaos, can the Kaathic tribes resist shadow's calling? Protagonist: 'Razog '''Shadow: '''Lucele '''Big Bad: '''Vaeliang '''Villains: ' '''Book Seven - 4E c.1038 With Vaeliang once more removed from the fray, the warlocks formerly under her command call upon the spirit of Dark Lord Mikhalinn, the former avatar of Oblivion who was consigned to the Outer Darkness during the Scourge. Upon his return, Annihilation shall commence, for the forces of Darkness are ready to spring their final trap that will pave the way to their certain victory. Can a single girl discover their plan in time to prevent civilisation's fall? Protagonist: Tira Shadow: '''Nabuku '''Big Bad: Mere-Phre Aiataar Villains: Vendrick Slate, Scaethar, Jaegar Volim, Shimmer Book Eight - 4E c.1050 With their world-spanning schemes foiled, the warlocks of Oblivion have nonetheless succeeded in returning the Dark Lord to the land of Naen, and launch their all-out assault upon existence itself as their master observes from atop the Black Spire. Light fights back, but victory is by no means certain. Perhaps the only thing standing in the path of Annihilation is the fulfilment of the First Flame's Prophecy - A cryptic foretelling inscribed in fire and bound by time. Protagonist: '''Bakra '''Shadow: '''Cinder '''Big Bad: '''Raknos the Plague-Lord '''Villains: Waazig, Mordak, Elias Shadowclad Book Nine - 4E c.1053 With the Prophecy's fulfilment, the world of Thaelis-Y'Arda has been granted one final chance to prove itself worthy of existence. As Ignis burns at the peak of Mikhul Delvin, the chosen people of Flame march upon all lands, seeking to claim the world in the name of their living god. The Lord of Steel believes that the way to save the world is to unite it under his strict order, but the forces of Light must convince the advancing legions to embrace peace. Protagonist: '''Dogarn '''Shadow: Kachin Big Bad: '''Mikhalinn '''Book One "Flame Prophet" - 4E c.67 Prologue Mikhalinn ascends the black slopes of Mikhul Delvin and confronts Oblivion at its peak. Mae: Ayani Human (Female) - Gentle Pilgrim (Empathy - Altruism) Mae climbs the mountain to speak with the cyclopes that safeguard the lair of the ancient verethran dragon that watches over the communities in her valley. The cyclopes guide her through the higher interior regions of the mountains, riding shalis (large, furry moth-quadrupeds that control light around them) through the ascending, spiralling caverns. On the way she sees many of their cave-drawings and carvings in stone, telling the history of their people. Mae converses with the dragon and it teaches her of the nature of the soul, whereupon it directs her to undertake a quest to the easternmost lands of Ignisland, to join the order of Steval, blade-master and avatar of Ignis, the First Flame. Mae boards a boat destined for the Isle of Magic, alongside four other magi - two cyclopes, an orc and a chamrosh. She talks with each of them in turn and learns more about the occult arts, as well as the current state of the chamroshi slave markets in the mountains south of her home. Mae speaks with the salamanders at the Isle of Magic Mae departs the Isle for the west coast of Haneiya. Mae arrives at the coastal floodplains of Haneiya, where the crew are ambushed by a band of zimbwi savages, who leap from the tall grass in ambush. The survivors decide to take an alternate route into the land - through the subterranean caverns of the astacus. In the caves of the astacus, Mae encounters some of the strange, ancient huldre, whose lobster-like appearance she finds both horrifying and fascinating. They speak in a tongue she does not understand, that of korakx, and the captain informs her that they have been granted swift passage through to the surface world further inland, as the zimbwis have been pushed further west by the forces of humans and narasihm in the east of the region. Mae exits the cave networks, and is introduced to her guides through the savannahs to the scorched foothills of Ignisland itself. They are three warriors of a local human Myrkish tribes, who speak heavily accented mannish. A brief stay at their village and then they set off. Mae stumbles across a site of recent acheri activity - a small village has been butchered, but there are no men among the dead. Mae spots a small hill a little further east, and the party head over. A crude stone altar has been made of a fallen rock at the crest of the hill, and a desecrated victim's sun-scorched body lies mutilated upon it, the tribe's shaman. Around the perimeter of the flattened top, several other victims have been tied or impaled to stone pillars, left to die of disease in the Sun. One remains alive, and her companions kill him out of mercy. This horrifying encounter sparks talk among the Myrkish men of Zoor'Ztsh, as the acheri do not usually venture this far out of the underworld. Mae reaches the edge of Ignisland, and her guides leave her there to go on alone. Mae crosses the basalt flats. Mae climbs the flanks of a great volcano to the Great Temple of Flame, and is greeted as soon as she arrives at the gates by a servant of Steval. Mae talks with the legendary Steval, who tells her of the history of the church of Ignis, and that it is her destiny to see this chapter of the Epic of Flame completed. When she asks what all of this means, and why the great verethra sent her here, Steval instructs her to journey, alone, to the opposite flank of the great volcano, and to enter the cavern she finds there. Before entering the small cavern that resides on the east-facing side of the volcano, she fancies she can see to the very edge of the world itself, far in the distance and over the ocean. Entering the caverns, she wanders for a short time through dark passages, following a faint shining light that grows brighter the further into the mountains she treads. Finally reaching the end of the passageways, she stands on a ledge overlooking a massive cave which terminates in a huge hole in the rock hundreds of feet above her, through which slivers of moonlight illuminate the scene below. In the centre of the cavern, lying below the lip of the ledge, is a colossal lump of solid, glowing gold. Awed at its beauty, she at first fails to notice the vast scaled form that encircles its lower half. A loose rock dislodges from her feet and falls in the cavern, echoing loudly in the vault of stone. The form beneath her awakens. as the reptilian shape rises up from its slumber, the legendary dragon Kharkaroth confronts Mae in his lair, demanding to know who she is and what her intentions are. When she says that she was sent, the beast suspiciously eyes her over and accuses her of being a thief. He is about to smite her from the ledge when she says that she was sent by Steval. Unable to harm those under the protection of the Avatar of Fire itself, the dragon instead taunts her with threats of a coming darkness. When the dragon tells her that its treasure is the heart of Mithras, the Sun itself, which fell to earth during the days preceding the Shadow Scourge, and imparts the story of the Sun's death, Mae finally understands why the verethra sent her here. She leaves the cave while Kharkaroth continues to rumble sinister omens of a world consumed by writhing coils of terrible shadow. Returning to the Temple of Steval, Mae then descends with him into the depths of the volcano, where she meets with the faces of Ignis - the jotunn known as eldjotnar. These great fire giants impart the Prophecy of the First Flame to her, and she knows that it is her calling to become a Fire-Keeper of the eighth primordial. The book ends with her initiation into the Fire-Keepers, as she steps unclothed into the inferno at the heart of the Temple, and the flames do not harm her flesh. Zak: Typhon (Male) - Obsessive Archaeologist (Empathy - Malice) Zak, a typhon archaeologist, secures funding for his expedition to the salt mire of Daakas, following a message received by one of his contacts within Mireport that the bones of an ancient dragon have been discovered deep in the marshes. Zak's ship departs for Mireport, planning to sail from the Typhon Isles through the Southern Sea and around the coast of western Sifland. Zak's ship arrives in Mireport, and he spends a day preparing the expedition, meeting with his contact and the rest of his digging team. Zak traves through the filthy marshes to the dig site, and sets up his camp in the swamp using rough tents placed upon either buoyant rafts or stilted platforms raised above the sucking, salty mud. Zak's team progresses with the dig, which is next to impossible due to the wet conditions and watery surroundings. However, after days of effort, they unearth a huge ribcage, and Zak discovers a small shard of black diamond which is stuck into the inside of one of the ribs. he retrieves it and keeps it for himself, despite the strange feeling it gives him when he looks upon it. Zak's dig continues, and this time, a couple of chains later, the dragon's huge horned skull is lifted from the mud, water pouring from its contours as the winch raises it from its prison of thousands of cycles. As the typhon looks into its empty eye sockets, he begins to hear whispers in his head, both terrifying and seductive, him to "release me", coming from the black diamond. As the dig progresses further, and the rest of the skeleton is being removed, Zak grows more and more obsessive over the diamond, sitting for hours at a time with it while looking into the dragon skull's eye sockets. He grows increasingly attached to the voice that sounds in his head, which presents itself as a friend. With the dig complete, Zak oversees the transport of the skeleton back to the great museum in Mireport, where it is to be stored while shipment back to the Typhon Isles can be arranged. However, while the arrangements are being made, he feels compelled by the voice in the diamond to travel to the land of Yondo, where she says that she can be "brought back to the world" and the two of them can meet in person." Zak has begun to fall in love with the feminine aspect of the voice, and cannot resist. Zak travels to Arktorah, and recruits a number of explorers foolish enough to venture into the bleak wastelands lying to the west. They tell stories of the great treasures to be found within the palaces of the fallen kitsune empire of Marl, which fell with the resurrection of Atropal and the birth of vampires. Zak's crew come to the edge of the wastelands and proceed cautiously onwards, losing numerous companions to the horrid abominations that scuttle and lope between the blue dunes of the realm. Overcome with some form of fevered madness, Zak urges them to press on regardless until they reach the site marked upon the crumpled map the adventurers carry. After a few days of digging, the crew unearth the highest tower of a buried city, and the design of the ramparts matches that used by the kitsune long ago - they have discovered Marl. They enter the realm beneath the blue sands and proceed deeper into the dead citadel. Zak happens across a temple to the fox-god Keluxax, and observes the statue erected long ago to the dark divinity. It appears to twist and laugh at him, and he flees the place of worship in terror, beginning to feel the slightest traces of doubt in his mind as to his mission. The crew discover and enter the central palace of Marl, and enter into the dungeons beneath the city. They happen upon a set of great doors and upon entering through them discover a huge, black diamond resting on a pedestal in the room's centre, untouched by time, perfect except for a small fragment missing from one corner. The voice in Zak's head urges his relentlessly, seductively, to unite his shard with the whole. upon doing so, sadistic laughter echoes in the chamber, and the voice takes on a deeper, more macabre tone, speaking words in a language unknown to the typhon and his companions. The black words shatter their minds, and they begin to carve into each other with their weapons, as a great incorporeal shape emerges from the diamond and ascends through the stone ceiling. In the last scene of the book, the black shape soars at great speed above the ocean, heading towards Mireport, and then on past it, to where a large ship is sailing eastwards towards Vaishun. The scene ends as the shadow descends upon the vessel. Epilogue Zak's contact within Mireport receives a letter from the Typhon Isles, several chains after the typhon's demise at the city of Marl. The letter is addressed to Zak, and demands to know the progress of his operation, and any fruits they have borne, as the shipment of dragon bone specimens his employer expected has not arrived despite being well overdue. Book Two "Cricket's Calling" - 4E c.592 Prologue Tira: Adlivun Human (Female) - Rebellious Orphan (Authority - Benevolence) Tira escapes with Marvyn and her friend is killed by Vendrick Slate and his men. Tira wakes in the forests from a nightmare to the sound of a cricket singing loudly by her ear, which scuttles off into the undergrowth. Tira enters the Nordic town of Skognhem, where she meets Amundi Halvard. Tira and Amundi travel through the Troxan Mountains. Thinking they're being followed, Amundi leaves a carcass on the trail and they make camp atop a ledge overhead. During the night, an enormous chatan takes the carcass and then leaves their trail. The two share more about themselves. When Tira stares into the fire, it briefly flashes electric blue, and Amundi warns that she treads a dangerous path. Tira and Amundi travel out of the mountains and head towards an old Jhoshan-era fortification. They see green lights across the old battlefields, and Amundi tells Tira of the demons that haunt sites of great tragedy on the hunt for souls. The pair stay the Long Nights within the garrison, before heading further south. Arriving at Amundi's village, Ornskirk, Tira learns how to fight in the village square, and learns more of the Nordic people and their history of slavery at the hands of the Jhoshans under the Emperor's rule. She learns that only the worst and most tenacious slavers still dared travel south after the Scourge of Shadows. Leaving the village, she travels onwards to the Frozen Ocean. Tira injures herself and is soon stalked by a pack of winter wolves. Just before they tear her apart, she falls through thin ice into caverns tens of feet below. Regaining consciousness, she is led through the networks of ice passages by crawling streams of crickets that seem to appear from nowhere. They lead her to the dead skeleton of a dorogar, half buried in ice. She finds a steel shortsword which feels warm to the touch. Exiting the subterranean world, Tira continues onwards despite her numerous injuries, hoping against hope to reach a settlement before the wolves find her again. However, the animals to catch up to her, and sure that she is about to be devoured, she takes a last brave stand, raising the sword to defend herself. To her astonishment it bursts into flame and drives the wolves away in a panic. Figures loom out of the snowstorm as she loses consciousness. Tira awakens in a shelter on the edge of the Frozen Ocean, being tended to by her grandfather, Torvik Yura. Reunited, she is told how hunters found her and brought her back to the village before death found her. She asks about her mother but is shushed back to rest. Tira learns the ways of life of her mother's people and is taught the language of spirits by her grandfather, the tribe's shaman and wise-man. He teaches her of the dorogar who fashioned the sword she holds and of the fire spirits that are bound to it. Over two cycles have passed and Tira still hasn't gotten an answer out of her grandfather about what happened the day her mother was stolen from him. Plucking up the courage to ask, she finally finds the answers she seeks. Her tearful mentor tells of the night their village was caught off guard by brutal slavers led by a man with cold grey eyes... who was referred to by his men as Vendrick Slate. Tira sits at night alone by the communal fire-pit, filled with rage at the crimes committed against those close to her by Slate. Hungering for vengeance upon him, she becomes aware of the cricket's chorus yet again, this time deafening, although she appears to be the only one to hear it. The dying embers burst into roaring blue flames and a great spirit rises from them, claiming to be an envoy of Flamberge. The ettin tells her to embrace her destiny to exact revenge and right the wrongs done by this cruel man. She agrees. A short cameo appearance of a young Elias as Tira infiltrates the Temple District of Lypter. Tira infiltrates the Cavern Vaults of Mireport to converse with the ogumo who serve Ceccylya and inform them of House Aiataar's betrayal of their goddess in favour of Oblivion. Nabuku: Myrkish Human (Male) - Thieving Pirate (Authority - Sociopathy) Epilogue Book Three "Gloom Seeker" - 4E c.824 Prologue As a single, ineffable word sounds out in the black chaos of Oblivion, Varza witnesses the emergence of Tey'Kor-Akx and the other primordials from the Void. Chittel: Satyr (Male) - Famed Explorer (Reputation - Inspiration) Chittel swaggers in Mireport and visits one of his old acquaintances at the House of Curiosities, a museum of some sort displaying various rare artefacts. His friend, an expert in historical knowledge, has summoned him to speak at urgent notice. When he arrives, Chittel sees that there are two figures dressed in flowing white and gold robes in the museum, and they introduce themselves as priests of Chainorah, the goddess of literature and philosophy. More importantly, Chittel recalls that she is a member of the fallen Order of Freedom. The clerics tell Chittel that they have heard reports that an original copy of Oblivion's holy text has been located in the ruins at the heart of the most fiendish place in the world - the corroded jungles of southern Vaishun. They wish to hire Chittel to retrieve it. Merit: Talfar (Female) - Arrogant Merchant (Reputation - Narcissism) Epilogue Book Four "Dream Walker" - 4E c.948 Prologue A tremendous battle rages outside the walls of a burning city between an army of humans and another of goblins, undead and dark fey. In the centre of the conflict, atop a blasted and burning hill, two tall figures clash amid the chaos. One, a man in shining armour wielding a sword of solid light, drives the blade through the chest of the second, a menacing black figure in armour carved from shadows who simultaneously brings a heavy obsidian blade down into the shoulder of his slayer, fatally wounding him. As the armies of darkness are routed from the field, a black vapour pours from the dark figure's corpse, and the golden soul of the other ascends into the heavens. Otta: Sirrush (Male) - Outcast Shaman (Creativity - Profundity) Otta arrives at the northern bank of the Ichthys River, after having travelled across the Central Sea from his homeland of Suranneol. Unfamiliar with the foreign surroundings, he rests in an alleyway within Lanercost and collects dead cats for later consumption in an old sack he finds lying around. Otta lounges in the shade of his alleyway, wondering what his next course of action might be. He observes homeless children begging for food on the busy main-street the alley opens out onto, with limited success. he observes the casual disregard the populace has for the gutter children, but in particular notices that when one child, not past 20 cycles old, shares his scraps of food with the others, leaving barely enough for himself. The sirrush notices that the boy has a hand missing, and finds it curious that the other people of the town had not exiled or killed him for his weakness. The orphan finds Otta and although taken aback, his youthful curiosity leads him to offer the sirrush some of his food. locals and the other children panic when they see his lizard-like body and call the guard. They callously shoo the orphans away from the street and turn their attention to Otta. They are suspicious and fearful, but surprised by his intellect, expecting him to simply be some form of horrid monster that crawled out of the river to prey upon them. Vasilisa: Kazadi Human (Female) - Artistic Iconoclast (Creativity - Macabrity) Vasilisa works at her masterpiece of artwork, for she is a sculptor of some repute in the city of Krakihm. During this time she has taken as a lover the god Delech, although she does not know his true identity, knowing him as the traveller Dymore. Vasilisa wanders the city streets at night, enjoying the quality of the sunless air. She one night encounters a stranger, and a handsome, charming one at that. He arranges to meet her again the following night, as he believes he possesses something that will elevate her abilities (she assumes he means as an artist). Vasilisa meets the stranger, who walks with her and guides her into a particularly dark street. He is revealed to be a vampire when he attempts to embrace her into the ranks of the undead, condemning her to a life of torment. However, passing city guards disturb the process, and she undergoes only a partial tranformation, becoming a dhampir, or half-vampire. Epilogue Book Five "Troll Friend" - 4E c.1000 Prologue Ashkule: Orc (Male) - Curious Scholar (Observance - Discernment) Ashkule enjoys the prospect of the Day of the Dead, as he will be able to speak with his ancestors as their ghosts walk among the living. His friend Mintah finds him and informs him that he has been summoned by high necromancer Duptal at urgent notice. Ashkule meets with the sacred necromancer, and learns of his vital mission. Ashkule is led through the first city of the ferrum, far beneath the surface world, observing their curious culture and architecture. After travelling through to the central, deepest region of the city, he enters the Stone Archives of Maurduhr. which is guarded by great iron golems fashioned in the likeness of large ferrum warriors. Ashkule speaks with the dying Ottakai within his chambers in the Stone Archives of Maurduhr Ashkule learns of the black texts of Oblivion from translations in Nitoan recorded in the Stone Archives. After uncovering what he needs to know, the troll guiding him reappears in a mirror to tell him that he has done well but that there are agents of shadow coming for him. Vasilisa and her spawn break into the library and attempt to slay him, but he narrowly escapes by diving into an underground river. Malcar: Taian Human (Male) - Lonely Apprentice (Observance - Nihilism) A young human man of exceptional intelligence, he comes from a physically and emotionally abusive home and is friends with Seron, a young woman for whom he holds love but whose father, Archer, holds great dislike for him. Malcar's story is a tragedy recording his descent into madness and profane magic. Malcar is apprentice to the village wise-woman, who is known to be a witch, albeit a benevolent one. She teaches him of the basics of magic during his studies, and although he excels at a rate almost unprecedented in someone of his age, she warns him of the darker paths that some pursue. These secrets will later become his downfall, as his curiosity and traumatic past interplay disastrously. He has a number of philosophical conversations with his concerned friends, who worry about his health as he grows more obsessed with finding the meaning of existence, which he sees as being composed mostly of suffering. Malcar is turned dark and nihilistic by his abusive past and the accidental death of Archer which he blames himself for. It appears that Archer has hanged himself. When Seron no longer talks to him, becoming closed off and distant he believes that it is because she is ashamed of him and retreats further into self-loathing and isolation. At the same time he vows to her that he would do anything to bring her father back to her. At some point, Malcar comes into the possession of occult texts excavated from the buried ruins of Zat-Lorach (incidentally, by Merit's expedition, hundreds of cycles earlier), the necropolis of ancient solfar sorcerer-kings. The writings tell of rituals used to return the dead to life, and Malcar becomes fixated upon restoring Archer to the living through necromancy. Malcar spirals out of control, leaving the village and retreating into the communal burial mounds in the nearby forest, practising his dark crafts and finally gaining power over life and death. He learns of deeper occult secrets not meant for mortal minds from a baba known as the Night Hag, Ariadne. She inducts him into her circle of profane magi and twists his soul further towards the Dark. Ariadne introduces Malcar to a powerful demon known as Zagor. Zagor whispers dreadful utterances within Malcar's mind, telling of the coming end of all things and of the futility of life. He instructs Malcar to join with the other magi who answer the call of the dark. He meets with other profane necromancers and they enact a terrible rite that initiates him into the tortured ranks of the deathless. As he realises too late what he has done to himself, Ariadne and the other magi reveal that they were behind Archer's death and that this moment was planned from the start. The next day, horrified and incensed at his betrayal and enslavement to Zagor and his own bitterness, Malcar raises a small army of undead draugr and storms the surrounding lands in a blind fury, consumed with resentment at what his history and life have done to him, and what he has done to himself. He is distracted by the appearance of Seron as she calls his name, and dispatched by a cleric of Tyrevor. As he dies in Seron's arms, she tells him the real reason why they had lost contact, and that she had missed him. When she asks why he did what he did, he replies simply with "...I had... to know..." before he lies still and his corpse collapses into shadowy ash, hinting that he is not truly destroyed. His final appearance is at the climax of book 9, when he infiltrates Mikhul Delvin under the guise of a follower of Mikhalinn. On the top of the mountain, he sacrifices his soul anchor to the Outer Darkness, banishing Zagor from Thaelis-Y'Arda in a final act of vengeance. In his last moments, he remembers his own name. Epilogue Benniszth, Nazlaieqk, Drakon, Redvaks/Kelsi, and Vasilisa converge within Emet Suliath using the shadow step ritual, and their plans are set in motion. Benniszth is to make preparations for Mikhalinn's resurrection within the Crucible of Mikhul Delvin (instructing numerous servants within Naen to procure the proper sacrifices - Mere-Phre tries to procure Tira Volim - and to be ready for the proper time). Nazlaieqk is to instigate a kiasyd jyhad against Tolnor, hoping to flood the city with panicked countryfolk which the good-hearted King Saam I will be unable to turn away. Mere-Phre is then to lend the king enough coin that Tolnor (like every other major human city) is hugely indebted to the Vaults of Mireport. After Mikhalinn's summoning, a bank recall will send civilisation into economic collapse, chaos and disarray paving the way for an easy victory as Oblivion's avatar commands his armies to destroy all life with ease. To ensure total despondency in Tolnor, Redvaks/Kelsi is tasked with the destruction of King Saam and his firstborn heir, leaving the west's strongest forces without organisation or a leader. Meanwhile, Drakon is told to mass the forces of darkness within Vaishun and oversee the subversion of order within the city of the solfar - the only civilisation not a single coin in debt to the talfar, who are their hated enemies. Vasilisa was called upon at short notice, tasked with tracking down and eliminating the only object currently threatening their plans - a young orc soon to be sent on a vital mission from his homeland. Book Six "Sloping Altars" - 4E c.1023 Prologue Vaekosa: Kiasyd (Female) - Loyal Hunter (Vigilance - Devotion) Vaekosa confronts Pastrea Vokunda atop a mountain plateau on the edge of Tor-Sul, where he is overseeing the kiasyd invasion into Tolnor's countryside, far below. She attempts to reason with him, but he remains loyal to the Hunting Moon tribe and brands her a heretic in the eyes of darkness. A brief struggle ensues between her and the old kiasyd, and she pushes him off a big cliff. Sex scene between Cade and Vaekosa as she adjusts to her new home and falls in love with the civilisation that light has brought to the world. Vaekosa escapes from the Tribe of the Hunting Moon after infiltrating their operations with her uncle, Caravee, who is the only one among her tribe who believes her about the deception of the warlocks. As the pair are running through the tree, Reclaimer Nazlaieqk calmly uses his moon-bow, which is carved from the bones and antlers of deer, to in a single shot impale Caravee to a pine trunk. As Vaekosa escapes in horror, the warlock interrogates her dying uncle but he does not reveal what they know. Fight scene between Cade, Vaekosa, the Tolnor city guard and the Oblivion cult led by Kelsi Venzor/Redvaks Bok. Thordus: Ferrum (Male) - Stubborn Traditionalist (Vigilance - Fanaticism) Departs the city of Maurduhr on an expedition to investigate recent goblin incursions into ferrum territory. Witnesses a large goblin cult to Kraken in the deep underworld and its watery passageways. He turns traitor to his city and reasons the only way to save his loved ones is to join with Oblivion's forces. He opens the gates of Maurduhr and lets the hordes of goblins pour into the great city where they proceed to wreak carnage on most residents. Epilogue The Prophecy of the First Flame Begins to come true - the Flame That Shall Dance has been born, and within the Temple of the First Flame, Mae, Steval and the other Prophets of Fire converse with the greatest amongst the eldjotnar. Book Seven "Dragon Slayer" - 4E c.1038 Prologue Razog: Ogre (Male) - Enthusiastic Messenger (Spontaneity - Appreciation) Razog attends the meeting of the tribes, and hears the various positions regarding allegiance to the forces of Oblivion in the coming war. When the tribes finally decide to refuse Darkness's calling, they call a final moot to discus further action. However, the tribes that voted against siding with Light do not show. As the tribes assemble in confusion, they are attacked by numerous vampires and warriors from the other tribes, who assail the elders as Vaeliang flies overhead, ready to bring her wrath against the traitors to Chaos. Razog ascends the great stone column that rises above the moot point, and triggers a huge rock slide that buries the Vaeliang beneath hundreds of tonnes of stone, trapping her within alongside many of the savage ogres and their vampire allies. Luceel: Raspel (Female) - Materialistic Hedonist (Spontaneity - Rapacity) Epilogue Book Eight "War Hero" - 4E c.1050 Prologue Benniszth the Blackened marshals the forces of darkness on the blasted yellow heaths of Andar, directing his necromancers to advance north to invade Araia with their legions of draugr, killing all in their path. As the leading koschei depart, another figure approaches the warlock, dressed in filthy rags that almost completely obscure the writhing flesh that lies beneath. Benniszth instructs the figure, revealed to be a Plague-Lord of Zoor'Ztsh, to eradicate the Protectorate threat in Sandoria to the east. The hunched figure laughs maddeningly and hobbles from the hilltop. The Flayer and numerous other profane necromancers enter the salt marsh of Daakas, and raise a large army of dead bodies from the pickling bog mud, before marching back the way they have come. Bakra: Solfar (Male) - Struggling Addict (Placidity - Harmony) Bakra witnesses a drug deal gone wrong, and sees his friends killed by ruthless criminals worshipping Ton'Ath'Ek, who swear revenge upon him for escaping their wrath. He vows to fight off his addiction. Bakra seeks aid in the temple of Venator, where he meets Princess Tauret, the daughter of solfar royalty. The dawon heading the gang that is after Bakra tells him of his kin outside the city, who are in league with dreadful forces. On the night before the great attack on the city, Tauret takes Bakra to bed with her. The walls of the solfar city are assaulted by hordes of ravening acheri, zimbwis, sirrush and myrkish humans. Bakra slays Drakon Maianos, and the siege is routed. Cinder: Nordic Human (Female) - Dependant Peasant (Placidity - Torpor) Cinder dances at the festival within her village of Hythe, looking forward to her imminent marriage to the woodcutter's son. During the celebrations, she sneaks off to the edge of the village to make love with him, but they are soon disturbed by loud noises from the other side of their settlement, and they both run back to investigate. They are under attack by a horde of draugr, and the village is in flames. She loses sight of her beloved and is knocked unconscious by a falling beam of burning wood, becoming scarred badly as a result. When Cinder awakes, the village is razed and smouldering in the drizzle, and she is the sole survivor. She flits in and out of consciousness in the wreckage. Cinder is pulled from the wreckage of her destroyed village by Elias Torindor, who is accompanied by Mordak, Waazig and Jerren Merry. We are introduced to each of these vile characters. Cinder and her bandit companions enter a town and it is apparent that none of them are remotely balanced individuals, revelling in tormenting those around them at the slightest excuse. Cinder and Elias encounter peasants with Mordak, Waazig and Jerren, and Cinder flees as the bandits attack the helpless family. Cinder is attacked by demons in the night forest, and is saved by Elias as he displays his light mysticism for the first time through Glare of the Sun. Cinder is attacked by Mordak during the night, and Elias runs the wolf faerie through, sending him toppling to his demise from atop a rocky ledge. The pair of them leave Waazig and Jerren behind and strike out alone. Elias and Cinder proceed east into Sandoria, where they find the countryside ravaged and villages abandoned. Elias says they should avoid settlements. Once, they are sure they see a lone figure trudging across the horizon on a small pony, but as they approach something makes them sure that they do not want to find out what is under the ragged hood the shape is cloaked in. The figure tramps onward and the two make camp. Cinder and Elias come to a small valley with a small settlement lying in the narrow region between them and their goal - in the eerie silence of the once-bright countryside they are forced to pass through the village. In the centre of the square, they witness three bacillus demons feasting on the remains of some mutilated bodies, and take cover from sight in an empty building. The demons disperse but the two begin to hear shuffling footsteps somewhere in another room, and as they exit the house, numerous zombies emerge from buildings and pursue them, gnashing hungrily. They narrowly escape death. When Elias and Cinder arrive finally at the walls of Lypter, they witness the city in decay, its walls caked in blood and filth, and a miasma of raging demons writhing within. Bodies clog the river Greywater. As Elias is forced to rethink his strategy for Cinder's passage, The two see a small figure emerge from the main gate and shamble slowly towards the dying forests to the south. Entranced, Elias intercepts the hooded man and demands to know who he is and what happened. Raknos reveals his role as the architect of the plague, and tells of his motives for doing so. Elias and Cinder are so mortified that Raknos continues on unaccosted. Elias and Cinder travel south-west, hoping to find succour within the villages of the Nords at the foot of the Troxian mountains. However, Elias knows that his time is short, and that with the Protectorate fallen, Hell is the only remaining bastion of resistance against the Dark. He begins to formulate a plan within his head to consign cinder's soul to the Sixty-Six. Meanwhile, Cinder has all but completely devolved into a passive shell of her former self due to the horror she has seen. As the forces of Oblivion close in on Cinder and Elias, Elias shows his true colours when he chases down and slays Cinder, sealing her soul inside his vessel for transport to Hell, where the forces of darkness cannot capture her. Epilogue Elias turns to confront a skeletal figure floating at the edge of the clearing he stands in, as the blood pools around the dying body of Cinder. The strange apparition mutters arcane incantations, and Elias comes to a sticky end somehow. The figure floats to the soul vessel and retrieves it, returning to the woods from whence it came. Ashkule sacrifices himself in order to protect the Tree of Life and Death from attack by Kharkaroth, using the arts of chronomancy to confront the dragon head on, disabling his flight and sending him crashing into the flank of the giant stone tree, splintering his massive skeleton against its timeless edifice. Standing directly in front of Kharkaroth's flight path in order to defeat him, Ashkule is inevitably crushed to death by the impact. Book Nine "Light Bringer"- 4E c.1053 Prologue A Nameless necromancer watches the sunrise from the edge of a stony lake in south-eastern Andar, reflecting on its sad and terrible past, its losses and unforgivable deeds, and the folly of immortality. Returning to its lair in a small and crumbling tower left over from a fallen Jhoshan fortress, it is summoned to attend the convocation at the peak of Mikhul Delvin, where Oblivion's Avatar awaits to commence the unravelling. Before departing, the koschei retrieves the vessel containing the soul of the girl he had witnessed being murdered by the Protectorate cleric, and peering into the dying embers of his hearth, feels something stir within him. He goes over to a small box that he has kept for hundreds of cycles, and hesitates, choosing not to open it. Putting the box inside his cloak, he retrieves a thick occult tome from a creaky shelf and makes preparations to enact one last ritual. Dogarn's Story (Criticism - Nobility) Dogarn sees the blazing flame atop the peak of Mikhul Delvin from his quarters within the steel tower of the Gazabarad, as tens of thousands of dorogar warriors march from the great gates hundreds upon hundreds of feet below. The emergence of the Fire at the End of the World has been seen by Hob as his cue from Ignis to claim the world for the dorogar people, so that the moral weakness of lesser species can be wiped out once and for all. Dogarn marches with the Praetorian legions of the Gazabarad, watching the meticulous ranks of fire and steel cut a swathe through the frozen wastes of Sifland. The dorogar legions do battle with the forces of cold at the centre of the Frozen Ocean, and steel golems clash with titanic force with the hrimthurs venerating Sif's corpse as negafook dragons soar overhead, before being downed by hails of steel flat bolts and waves of sacred fire sent forth by Hob's battle-priests. In the aftermath of the dorogar victory, Dogarn and other scouts among the legions are ordered to proceed on ahead of the legions to gather information about the territory ahead. Dogarn is separated from his party and attacked in the night by hungry spirits of Weendigo. Down on luck and unable to slay the foul things, he is saved from certain death by the mysticism of Tira Volim, who has travelled south to learn more of the dorogar threat from Sifland. The dorogar legions reach the southern tip of Naen, and begin to advance north, doing battle with the tribes of Nordic humans living there, but meeting little resistance to their formidable arsenal and unsurpassed skill. Upon being rescued by people not of his own, Dogarn starts to realise that the ends cannot justify the means, and that the world cannot be protected from evil through oppression and bloodshed. He must now find a way to stop the seemingly relentless march of his militant people as it continues to sow sorrow and death in its wake. Tira travels alone to confront Hob himself and persuade him to turn back his forces and embrace the Light. Upon the snow-clad slopes just south of the Troxian Mountains, she is tracked down by Vasilisa and they trade words before joining in battle. The fight is fierce, but ultimately the dhampir finally meets her end upon Flamebrand, turning to dust in the wind as Tira continues south. Dymore appears to bear Vasilisa's soul into the Land of the Dead personally (hinting at his true nature as the god Delech). Dogarn lays his eyes upon the legendary fortress of Benniszth, Mikhalinn's most trusted servant and one of the world's most prominent warlocks. With steely resolve, he advances towards it and enters through its forboding gates to face the dark lord within, who is about to liberate his accursed allies from the Flame's Prophecy and usher in Annihilation. Dogarn fights Benniszth the Blackened within the throne room of Emet Suliath, and using the power of the Sun sword Dome Dagnir defeats and kills the dread warlock. However, even as Benniszth is dealt the killing blow, his own blade severs Dogarn's arm at the shoulder, and he collapses to the frozen floor, gushing lifeblood and succumbing to his injury. Kachin's Story (Criticism - Zealotry) Kachin is a witch aiding in the struggle of her people, who have been decimated by the legions of goblins and kiasyd rampaging through Noz-Oraln and Tolnor at the command of Reclaimer Naz-Laieqk, and witnessing first-hand the slaughter and despoilation that the followers of Oblivion have brought to her once relatively peaceful lands. Kachin's brother tumbles from the top of a cliff when they are running to escape wolf faeries and trigger a landslide. She is devastated at his loss and begins to descend into a fierce hatred and intolerance for even those who fail to actively oppose every single aspect of the darkness. Leading an entourage of those who gather around her with their own bitterness clouding their sound judgement, Kachin descends into zealotry. Kachin grows increasingly intolerant of any who do not commit to the forces of the trolls, eventually coming to the conclusion that all who follow the gods must be destroyed to eradicate the threat they pose to the continuation of reality. She begins hatching plans with like-minded individuals to begin killing off various clerical sects within the Court of Freedom, seeing them as traitors to the cause of magic. To her mind, the ends justify the means. At the end of the conflict, when the kiasyd have been driven back by human and orc forces, Kachin faces trial for her vicious crimes and is sentenced to death, feeling only slightly remorseful for her actions. Additional Scenes Waazig comes into conflict with Duke Loras, and when he attempts to kill the psychomancer Loras throws his mind back to his early childhood, flooding him with memories of his brutal mistreatment by numerous drunk figures, and turning him into a broken, terrified wreck. When Mikhalinn's forces reach the northern shores of the Ichthys River and continue into Arktorah, they are met by an entourage of magi, with whom Duke Loras has allied himself out of a desire to protect his holdings. A fight between profane necromancers, sacred oracles and the powerful psychomancer himself ensues. necromancers are hurled to the edge of time, dominated into suicide and frozen in place to be defeated by the chronomancers, while a number of the sacred magi are downed by the undead. Jerren's true nature is discovered in a town in Arktorah, and he is dispatched. The necromancer arrives at the foot of Mikhul Delvin, and enters the passageways that lead deep into its black core, before ascending to its peak. Cinder's soul watches from occasional openings in the skeleton's cloak and witnesses the horrors that lurk within the Black Spire, waiting to finally unmake reality. The necromancer attends the convocation, and Mikhalinn manifests in shadow to open a great rip in the fabric of reality,allowing demons to pour through into Thaelis-Y'Arda. When the portal to the Outer Darkness opens, the necromancer steps forwards from the circle of figures, Cinder's soul suddenly shooting from its body and manifesting as an eldjotnar with wondrous, flaming hair that trails after her as she dances atop the mountain. While Mikhalinn and the other profane magi are distracted, the necromancer opens its cloak, revealing a rusted iron rose held within its ribcage where its heart would have been long ago. Stating its name as Malcar, it plucks the rose from its skeleton and hurls it into the black portal, leading it to be instantly annihilated and releasing Malcar's soul from the clutches of Zagor. His last words are for Seron, his long-dead love. The Flame that Dances at the End of the World as it Has Been Known. ''While the warlocks interpreted this to mean the end of Creation and the dawn of chaos, and the Ignites believed it to mean the certain preservation of Thaelis-Y'Arda by Fire, the true interpretation of this prophecy is that either one or the other shall some to pass, based upon the moral fibre of the world's people. '''Epilogue' Nazlaieqk is sentenced to consignment by the elders of Urchano, his blasphemous soul carved from his body, divided into its seven fragments and offered to the trolls of the Mirror, who pull it into their mysterious realm as his body dissolves into a shadowy ooze. Ashkule looks on as a chepi, and it is revealed that it is the Day of the Dead - he is reunited with his family and Mintah once again to share his story for inscription in the Great Book of Truth. Book Ten "Oath Breaker" - End of the 3rd Era Book Eleven "Moon Calf" - The Scourge of Shadows